Calder Wysong ’27

As I’m writing this, I’m in North Jersey, spending the long weekend with my family and my grandfather. It’s quiet, sunny, what would seem like your average October afternoon. Even just 50 or so miles from the city, it gets quiet. And yet, it seems the political tumult we see in the headlines of the New York Times, CNN, or even the little of it that we experience firsthand in our small high school’s classrooms, seems to even encroach itself into a quiet, lakeside town, where politics seems to be the last thing on everyone’s mind.

As I’m driving out with my parents, I look out the window to appreciate the view on my drive. We pass by two larger houses as we’re driving down the hill. Passing the first house, my eyes happen to shift down to their lawn. The opaque white lettering of the sign contrasts the navy blue and red background: “TRUMP VANCE 2024.” Nothing special, I think to myself, until I turn my gaze to the house next door. Looking out on the grass, I see another sign titled, “KNOW YOUR PARASITES.” Below this message, the sign depicts a variety of ticks, with an image of former President Donald Trump placed under the category of “LUNA TICK.”

Of course, this bipartisan divide isn’t unique to one county of northern Jersey. All across the country, we see political polarization spreading like wildfire–and it’s by no means limited to just putting up signs on your lawn. Think about the January 6th riot or the reactions to the current presidential election–even in the three branches of our federal government, political polarization seems to be slowly encroaching on every aspect of our lives as Americans. And yet, I don’t want to present this political crisis as something for us to fear. In fact, I think trying to find hope in such a crisis is what we need to do to overcome it. And as of recently, I’ve found that sense of hope for our country’s future in a four-part docuseries titled Citizen Nation, directed by Singeli Agnew.

Citizen Nation follows a number of high school students from schools across the country as they prepare for and participate in an annual civics competition called We The People. First founded in 1987, We The People served as a bipartisan effort to, as Sheridan High School’s AP Government Teacher Mike Thomas describes it, “inject civic education back into American schools.” The competition mimics a congressional hearing. Students are provided four minutes for an oral argument on a certain civic topic that’s of recent relevance (Abortion, environmental and sustainability concerns, current presidential elections, etc). Following that, judges have an open question-and-answer session, similar to how members of Congress question witnesses on a civic issue. And, really, the purpose of the competition isn’t to create winners or losers, nor is it to create an environment of polarization. Above all else, the purpose of it is to allow students to not just think for themselves, but to also create their own judgments on many of the civic issues facing our country today. “We hear all the time about polarization being kind of the downfall of our society… But I’m not so sure I buy completely into that,” Thomas says.

The way in which a competition like We The People attempts to dismantle our country’s bipartisan divide is something that we need so desperately right now. Watching the first episode, I was somewhat baffled by the sheer scope of the program itself, especially considering the lengths of the political spectrum it reaches. Despite the factors that go into one’s political standpoint, whether it be race, economic status, or the state these students are from, there is no set demographic for this competition. And Citizen Nation seems to drive home the point that, regardless of where you, as a young person, stand politically, we shouldn’t condemn each other for those ideologies. Instead, we need to learn to debate on those issues that polarize our country, and a program like We The People reinforces this sense of solidarity we can find in debate. When observing the number of pressing civic issues in our world today, whether it be the presidential election, the conflict in Gaza or even the definition of our rights in the Constitution, there’s bound to be some form of political polarization. And yet, we don’t have to express it through the conflicting signs on our lawns. We debate, we question, and we change the perspectives and ideas of one another. I, for one, know my perspective is still changing.

Citizen Nation airs every Tuesday at 9:00 P.M. in October on PBS. It’s available for streaming on Amazon and can also be watched on the PBS website.